Specter Lord
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Climate/Terrain | Desolate Dungeons and ruins |
| Frequency | Very Rare |
| Organization | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle | Night or Darkness |
| Diet | Nil |
| Intelligence | Very (11-12) |
| Treasure | A, U, |
| Alignment | Neutral Evil |
| No. Appearing | 1 |
| Armor Class | -2 |
| Movement | 12 |
| Hit Dice | 10 |
| THAC0 | 11 |
| No. of Attacks | 1 |
| Damage/Attack | Energy drain |
| Special Attacks | See Below |
| Special Defenses | +3 or better weapon to hit |
| Magic Resistance | 40% |
| Size | M (6’ Tall) |
| Morale | Fearless (19-20) |
| XP Value | 10,000 |
Description
Specter Lords can be confused with normal specters because they are similar, but if a cleric tries to turn the Specter Lord, he/she feels a tremendous wave of evil eminating from the Specter Lord.
Combat
Spectre Lords exist primarily on the Negative Material Plane and can therefore be attacked by beings on the Prime Material Plane only with magical weapons. But, unlike normal specters, daylight doesn’t makes spectre lords powerless by weakening their ties to the Negative Material Plane.
A spectre lord can un-turn spectres by rolling "turn-dead" on the spectre as a 14th level cleric. It takes only half-damage from weapons. It can cast spells as per 10th level cleric. The spectre lord's touch drains 2 levels and slays outright on a natural 20. It is immune to light, fire, and cold-based spells.
They are non-material beings (hence can pass through ordinary matter) and can plane shift to the negative material plane and back, always returning to the same point on the prime material plane where they left. A spectre lord regenerates lost hit points at a rate of 3 hit points per turn at the negative material plane.
Habitat/Society
Spectre Lords are solitary, but some enclaves exist where a spectre lord has managed to drain mortals of life. The others are known collectively as the followers. In this arrangement, the Specter Lord almost never engages enemies personally, but instead sends his minions in for the kill. Mortals drained of life by follower spectres are subservient to the master spectre, not the followers. Note that if the spectre lord is slain, all followers become independent and can travel anywhere they wish. Once a character becomes a spectre, recovery is nearly impossible, requiring a special quest.
Spectre lords hate light and all life, as both remind them of their undead existence. They are therefore encountered only in places of extreme darkness and desolation, like long-abandoned ruins, dungeons, and subterranean sewers.
Contrary to popular mythology, spectres remain highly intelligent and generally rational after the transformation to undeath. Life makes them lament their unlife, and they bear a strong hatred for all those lucky enough to live and truly die.
Spectre lords have enough cunning to plan their attacks, and rival vampires in their skill at remaining hidden from the general populace.
Ecology
No one knows who the first spectre lord was or how it came to be; the few facts detailed above are all that is known with any degree of certainty. Some believe that the first specter lord was created because a powerful specter drains a whole community, hence gaining phenomenal power.